not how we tackle our deficit. >> the pressure now mounting on joe biden with the kentucky clash just over 24 hours away. can he seal the deal or is he facing a mission impossible? even with the a-team linking arms the president's campaign is sticking by its own balance plan and calling reinforcements to gear up. >> i would tell them to take whatever nervous energy they have and whatever hand wringing they will do over the next 24 to 48 hours and put that into a real effort to get this president re-elected. the president can't do it by himself. >> obama has to stand and deliver and nobody can do it for him. >> can the president recover? >> right. >> can he come back and be president on the stage with the contender mitt romney? >> how great is it for barack obama, look at this positively, he's the underdog now. the president of the united states is now the underdog. >> mitt romney will be stump thing hour in battleground ohio

with the fiery surrogate chris christie who will be bringing what some on the left call his own jersey shore brand of gtl. go tell lies. meanwhile, romney's getting help from at not so eke receipt weapon of his own. his wife, ann. appearing on "gma" and launching a mid week media blitz calling president obama and democrats poor sports. >> it is sort of like someone that, you know, in the sandbox like lost the game and they are just going to kick sand in someone's face and say you liar. i mean, it is like -- they lost. and so now they just are going to say okay, the game, you know, between didn't like the game. >> okay. let's dive in to our wednesday political power panel. msnbc's contributor jimmy sxwms republican strategist hogan giddily. it is good to have you here. jimmy, i want to start with you. bill clinton was on fire in las vegas yesterday. making the case romney can't be believed in doing it only in a way the president can. take a look. >> the problem with this deal is that the deal was made by severe

conservative mitt. that was how he described himself for two whole years. until three, four days before the debate they got together and said man, this ship is sinking faster than the titanic. just show up with a sunny face and say -- i didn't say all that stuff i said the last two years. come on. >> president clinton getting airborne there. does president obama need to be more like bill clinton in the debate, that type of realism to the voters that will watch. >> have you three south carolinians on the panel this morning. i want to point out this. we are going to talk about arkansan president. >> break out the pimento cheese. >> palmetto cheese? >> forgive me, i'm sorry. >> he's from baltimore.

he's all orioles. >> to answer your question, this is a simple fact. mitt romney lied on the stage last wednesday. and bill clinton called him out on it. that's ironic and i won't say why. but the bottom lewin is that the president -- barnicle was right this morning on "morning joe." the president didn't look very presidential. he has a chance, two chances, to recover. vice president needs to boot him into it and that's what we are looking for. bill clinton is right. he has to call him on it. >> one other thing, first lady michelle obama was able to use the "sesame street" line and do so in a far more serious way than her husband did. at least what critics are saying. are we going to see a lot more of the first lady, bill clinton, bringing that kind of heat, is that enough to help the president's team dig itself out of that post-debate hole? >> you know, i think -- it certainly does help the first lady has approach ratings of 70%. you see ann romney has approval ratings of 60%. at this point it is all hands-on deck approach though this

campaign. closing this gap, reasserting the president. and -- making sure that at least from the first lady's point he gets back on track to where he was before. and i think first ladies help in terms of the women vote. you have seen from recent polls that booem initially had 18, 22-point gap with mitt romney. mitt romney had that deficit. looks like mitt romney has done himself some good in that debate to close that gap. i think you will see the first ladies out there and it is better for the first lady to talk about the "sesame street" line and big bird than the president. you saw that ad out yesterday that many people called absurd. you saw raerp romney have that editorial today and basically saying big bird versus a small president. i think they will step back from having a president talk about big bird and have the first lady do it instead. >> okay. hogan, let's jump ahead to tomorrow night. appreciate sewer truly on for vice president joe biden to deliver the debate in kentucky,

same quote. team baerm needs a strong performance from biden to make up for last week and change the subject. another bad outing by a member of the ticket and democratic hand wringing could turn into full-fledged panic. is the shoe on the other foot now with president obama being the underdog, team romney, was panicking? certainly before last week's debate but have been able to change the narrative. >> the tide has turned. i don't think there is any question about that. looks like governor romney who performed beautifully in that debate is -- has seen a surge as a result. i mean, we are, you know, these things ebb and flow and pushing up against another big night for both campaigns. i think that vice president biden will do well. i think that paul ryan will do well also. but i think that the issue here is you have to remember whether for mitt romney's own gaffes or whether the media built up president obama's some figure who is going to do extremely well in this campaign and wipe the floor with mitt romney, it already set the bar so high for

president obama he fell very flat. didn't come close to the bar. we have an issue paul ryan is thought to be this wonky nerd and when he comes out, if he can perform even half as well as mitt romney, they are overestimated or underestimating congressman ryan, i would say if they think he will come out and just throw out a bunch of numbers and stats and not put any hard or skin in the game so to speak. he has won a congressional district because he can relate to people. i think we are going to see some of that behavior if that debate tomorrow night. >> there were critics from the female side of the aisle that there was no conversation, no debate, between mitt romney and president obama about a woman's right to choose. the obama campaign is accusing governor romney of kind of having an etch a sketch moment again about his position. his stance on this because of a recent interview. take a listen. >> there is no legislature with regards to abortion i'm familiar with that -- would become part of my agenda. >> that was with the des moines

register. is the romney campaign -- i know that they are trying to walk back this comment as they often do because -- sfamt saying mitt romney is pro-life and will probably be a pro-life president. when they have mitt romney giving interviews like that and then have to come out and do cleanup, does that show that there is a problem? to be a good liar, you have to have a good memory. you have to remember what you told people. is this problematic for the romney campaign? >> you have the obama campaign host a program called "this morning." this is a mitt romney and board room mode where he's trying to sell a certain plan to a certain audience. if you do look at his stances on abortion they do seem to have shifted. if you go way back to what he was say being his position in massachusetts, when he was running there, and what he saying now, what he said in the primary, described himself as a conservative so he would sign legislation overturning roe v. wade, much to the pleasure of conservatives and now you do have a shifting position.

you expect the democrats who have been running ads about mitt romney's position saying that he would defund a plan on abortion, you expect now they will have ads that show him flip-flopping. you know, think this is the return of moderate mitt which is what bill clinton suggest. >> way to show everybody because we have a live look in ohio where in morning romney will renew that. in mt. vernon, the start there. the new cnn poll is showing mitt romney is trailing the president in ohio by just four points as we point out, though, the only way to pennsylvania avenue is through ohio. at this point are conservatives willing to let mitt romney say whatever he needs to say? if he gets caught in lies so what as long as he wins. >> it is not the only way to the pennsylvania avenue but probably the best way for a conservative. look, i think there's bad news can good news coming out of the comments he gave to politico. bad news is that as -- social

conservative who believes in the worth and value of all human life, we want him to come into that presidency and push some agenda that would protect the innocence -- innocent human life. however, the good news here is that, you know here, did say he would reinstate the mexico city policy which would keep federal funding from going to fund abortions. that's something we do like. but there's also a difference you have to note from a candidate. mitt is doing something smart here. he's saying, look, i know what i believe but here's the things i'm going to be able to do as president. contrast that with barack obama who made all these wild promises and pledges and 00 come through a -- follow through on any of them and you see kind of a pragmatic mitt romney who says this is what i believe in but this is what i know i can accomplish. i'm not going to overpromise here. >> your response? >> i appreciate my fellow south carolinian's comments about policy but here is a fact. so the capital of japan is

tokyo. we know thesing a fact. here is the fact. not a single taxpayer dollar goes to fund abortions. not one. not even a cent. not even a penny. not one. the theory of reinstituting the policy is a farce. mitt romney was pro-choice. now -- then pro-life. then this morning he was pro-choice and now andrea is saying he's pro-life. i'm confused. the great thing is i couldn't p can't an abortion. the presidency is being choosing supreme court justices. that's what it is about. nothing more and nothing less. they decide every aspect of our lives. he liked scalia and clarence thomas. that's what the choices are about. nothing else. >> my thanks to our wednesday political power panel. trifecta from south carolina. thanks to all three of you. i appreciate it. it is a headache the obama team doesn't need right now. congress holding a hearing on benghazi and attack at the top of the hour. just as new details start to emerge the moments leading up to street attack that killed four

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we feel very confident in our ground game and implementing that across the country. that's what we are focused on. we are not getting whipped up and down with the ups and downs of the polts because we know there will be many ups and downs in the next 27 days. >> that was earlier today putting her faith in the democratic ground game to overcome a rough patch for president obama. republicans who were touting their own spike in volunteers

and enthusiasm following mitt romney's strong debate performance and subsequent pop we have seen in the polls. joining me now to talk about this, sean spicer, communications director for the republican national committee. sean, it is good to have you here. as we talk about that enthusiasm, it certainly turned the tide. maybe in the gop's favor following the first debate. team obama has an active ground game and example of this is in the state of ohio where the obama campaign has 120 field offices. governor romney's campaign has 35. so how does your party plan to catch up? we know mitt romney is in the state of ohio continuing his push there today. >> good morning. it is great to be with you again. i think very simply. this sounds very rudimentary. offices can't contact people. people do. and when you look at just last weekend alone, we had 30,000 volunteers in the balance ground states making 2.5 million voter contacts. robust absentee ballot and early vote program. we had our -- our ground game in

place in march of this year which is months before when it had been done before. the metrics we have in terms of total volunteer contacts are -- now exceeding 35 million. and we have made in the battleground states p so, again, i think what you hear from the obama campaign is that they like to tout the number of offices that they open. so they open an office. again, that's not activity and that's not results. the end of the day, the question is do you get your people out to the polls to vote for you? and we continue to identify more people to have surges of volunteers come in, have record number of absentee ballot in key states. i think that when -- the proof is actually in a lot of those deliverables they don't want to talk about and that's where i think we are going to excel and -- catapult this race to victory. >> you say it is -- robust early voter plan that you have and just to remine everybody yesterday being the voter registration deadline. dozens of states. including the battlegrounds of ohio, florida, pennsylvania,

virgin virginia's deadline is monday. voting under way in 35 states. did republican took too much stock in voter suppression issues and not enough in the ground game? as you say even though it is not about all the offices. lot of the efforts were done to suppress to t vote in different states. with the republican-led state houses trying to change the laws. was there too much emphasis put on that? >> first of all, find it extremely insulting to say there was any effort by anyone to suppress the vote. i find that unbelievably insulting and -- >> would you say that with the federal panel that texas -- >> we -- they want -- >> sean works you say that to the federal panel that supports unfair burden against the poor, allotting it to a poll tax, they said this was a poll tax and would be voter suppression in texas and would not be happening there. like they are utilizing in other states. >> okay. so -- in the state of rhode island which i think -- my home

state which is pretty controlled by the democratic party, they didn't see too much outrage there when they did it. i think when you look at every poll that's ever come out, 70% to 80% of americans support this, so i think that somehow equate showing a photo i.d. which in most states is given -- free if there is an issue with the person's economic condition, then somehow requiring people to show the same type of thing had would be required to get government assistance and get on an airplane and try government building and is actually a common sense move to ensure we maintain the integrity -- >> the basic right of an american isn't to fly, is it? >> i don't understand your question. >> your basic american right in certain things is to be able to vote. >> i don't understand how -- entering a government building, getting government benefits, things like that, it is a common sense thing to say hey, if you are going to come in to a voting booth to claim you are somebody, we would like to actually use a

common sense -- >> it is a -- to get an i.d. and certain cases considered to be a poll tax. poll tax is unconstitutional. is a poll tax constitutional or unconstitutional? >> poll tax would be. i don't understand -- that's like saying to drive on a road is a poll tax -- you have to get a license to enter a government building there is a poll tax because you have to show a photo i.d. to get government been pits a poll tax because you have to show i.d. to get those benefits. so -- if that's your standard, a, it is against 70% to 80% of -- >> poll tax only deals with when you are going to the polls. poll tax only deals with -- poll tax really only deals when you are going to the polls. >> i know what a poll tax is. >> driving on a road and getting a lines, that's not a poll tax. going into a government build sing not a poll tax. flying on an airplane and showing your passport is not a poll tax. going to vote and having to prove who you are but having to go out and spend money on getting that i.d. or driving positive miles because you don't

have an i.d. place in your town and you have to drive this distance to get one, that is a poll tax. that costs you money. >> as far as i'm aware every state that's implemented photo i.d. has allowed -- ensured anyone that can't k afford is it is given one free of charge. i'm not how you can equate a tax. second, i don't understand -- i mean, when you just said to me is you know, you -- to prove who you are, to have to vote, is a tax. what would you do? just assume that you walk in and anyone can just say hey, i am who i am and there is a degree to -- >> our forefathers who put together our constitution that decided that. not me. >> at a time when it was little different back then. i don't believe they had driver's licenses back in the 1700s. but -- i will check on that. i don't understand why it would be when you have a common sense measure that says hey if you are going to walk into a voting booth to ensure that your vote

not only counts for you, but doesn't someone else doesn't come in and dilute that vote by casting a -- >> who is doing that? there is no instances of voter fraud? that federal judge was rule on to implement these laws. i mean, they -- >> let -- do you -- do you -- hold on. let me ask you a question. do you -- do you lock your house at night? >> do i lock my house at night? sure. >> do you lock the doors to your house at night? >> yes. >> you do it because not because it has a history of being broken into but because you regard your property and your personal well-being as something appreciaprecious and protect it. so i think the question comes down to when it comes to protecting our rights to vote, it is not necessarily has there been rampant voter fraud in every state we have to protect it, this is a precious right each of us has -- >> why do we need to lock out people from voting? that's what voter suppression

is. putting a lock on the right and access for many americans to vote, who may not have the same access to voting as maybe you and i have because we can afford to go get an i.d. for ourselves. i know we are getting wrapped around the -- >> just here's my -- if every state that's implemented this has allowed for measures tone sure if you cannot you a forward it, that one is provided for you free. then your argument goings out the window. >> but that's -- why aren't these cases being won on the federal level in court? i mean, we can have this discussion right here. >> i know that -- a lot of them have come to -- pennsylvania last week said that it wasn't a question of whether or not it was constitutional or not. they questioned whether there was enough time after they -- adjudicated it between then and the election and could go forward. >> most likely won't. >> settle to allow them to do it. the question is it is not a question of -- it has been held by the supreme court. >> not presidential election

next year so it won't come back up next year. >> yes. no, no. what they said is you can't enforce that piece of it -- because there is an election coming right up. we have -- taken so long to adjudicate this. so we don't have a problem with the issue. we have a problem with the timing. you can move forward after this election when there will be plenty of time before the next election. that being said, the supreme court has been very clear on this. very clear that it is completely upheld and it is constitutional. aside from it being common sense, support bid 70% of america, it is constitutional. >> we shall see how it goes with people getting out to the polls this year. early voting already under way in 35 states. >> one last note. we would love to see more and more people vote. we think this election is about two visions of america and would like to have as many people come out and -- >> you would like to see more people vote by imposing more red tape ask getting more people -- i mean, the republican party is about less taxes and about less red tape. you would rather have people pay

for an i.d. and have to go through jumping hoops inform get to a polling station. correct? >> i think we cleared this up. there's no charge. there's nothing to pay and it protects not only my right to vote, your right to vote, but it ensures that no one else's is diluted. i think every eligible voter, i encourage them to come out and vote and hope they vote for governor romney and paul ryan. >> thank you, sir. appreciate your time. the supreme court is taking up one of the most important civil rights cases to come before them in years. affirmative action for college admissions. we are going to break that down and much more after this. former model olga created. she knows contents sells. she also launched a companion online magazine as an opening source important what's in. for more of "your business,"

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white. how it rules could forever change the way students are admitted to college across this country. we turn to the crucial battleground states of ohio. secretary of state there is now asking the u.s. supreme court to block last week's federal appeals court ruling that allows early voting in the final three days before the election. in 2008, about 100,000 cast ballots during that time and as mitt romney stumps in ohio today, the stakes are higher than ever. joining me now is missouri democratic congressman, chairman of the congressional black caucus. it is great to have you here. there are charges republican officials in ohio are politically motivated in trying to limit early voting in that weekend leading up to election day which the obama campaign used four years ago to help increase turnout among african-american voters. you are involved in the efforts to turn out the african-american vote. a key voting block for president obama. what's your reaction to hearing the ohio secretary of state's appeal is going to go down to the supreme court? >> politically obscene. here we are in the greatest

democracy in the history of the planet and instead of us trying to encourage greater participation in the political process, there is an all-out effort to frustrate voters to try to discourage voters from voting. and i think that -- as we -- realize how important ohio is to the selection of the next president of the united states, you are going to see more and more efforts in ohio to discourage voters. and it is -- it is -- there's nothing that's ever happened to justify this. look, in the -- state of missouri where i am, and -- in 2000, there were six substantiated cases of voter fraud. six. and four of them were double votes. there was nothing concerning an i.d., nothing an i.d. would have prevent. >> sir, did you hear the interview i did with sean spicer of the rmr?

did you hear he was offended i even asked about why they feel it was important to attempt voter suppression and -- to tackle that in this presidential election? hay said off ended that i would say something like that. >> well, when you step on somebody's toe, they do generally wince. and they -- they will get offended. why would i get offended if you asked me a question about ohio and discouraging voters? because, you know, i'm not participating in that. i don't think that there is any reason for the people in ohio to move the -- the government of the state of ohio, this is the government, to try to kill the opportunity for many people to vote. i cannot understand any democracy. ohio, residents, ought to be the ones that are offended. >> so explain to us, though, how your voter registration efforts have gone. >> well, we have register ad lot of people. there are still many people who are not registered.

in many states, voter registration has already ceased. we are out registering people and now the effort will be voter turnout. and we -- here is a problem i don't think people realize because of all of the discussion about voter suppression, and voter i.d., there are people in states like missouri who actually believe that voter i.d. is required. just because they have -- heard so much about it in -- on television and on the radio and in the newspapers. and so we have to make sure people are not in states where there's no voter i.d. required, hesitant to go to the polls because they think it is. we actually have that in 2008, the -- california technology and m.i.t. conducted a study. 24% of the african-americans who said they didn't vote they said they didn't do so because of voter i.d. 78% of asians said they didn't vote in 2008 because of -- didn't have the voter i.d. so this is a problem and we have

to make sure that people understand that inner is states, they have voter i.d. laws. in most of the states, they don't. . >> sir, thank you for your time this morning. i appreciate it. coming up next, comeback kid. what president obama needs to do to turn the polls around. winning strategy, coming your way next. e? well, i'll admit it. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference. [ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com.

we are following developing news from capitol hill today. in 30 minutes the house oversight committee is expected to begin hearing on the security failures of benghazi and comes 24 hours after the state department gave its most detailed account of what happened in the attack that killed ambassador chris steve sense and there others. now the most significant takeaway officials say that there were no protests in front of the consulate before that attack which directly contradicts what u.s. ambassador susan rice said on "meet the press" three weeks ago. i want to bring in white house correspondent mike viqueira. take us through the timeline what we know for sure. >> it is as a fascinate story

that will not go away for the administration. there is an implication and accusation coming from republicans ever since the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi exactly one month ago on september 11 that left four americans dead. implication is that the administration ignored signs that interest didn't do everything it could to protect the lives of ambassador steve sense and three other americans who perished in attack that day. the accusation is that they essentially lied to cover up the fact that terrorists were involved in order to keep their persona as tough on terrorism just two months out from an election. there were shifting explanations from the administration the day afterwards the president appeared in the rose garden saying there was an act of terror. jay carney and his spokesman said the film was to blame. you mentioned ambassador rice appeared on "meet the press" and started out spontaneously about the film. remember the -- protests in cairo, happened just hours

before. about ambassador rice said they were joined by terrorist elements. then jay carney said that, of course, it is self-evident. terrorism. we have a quick timeline detailed briefing by the state department you mentioned at 8:30 p.m. and said the street is calm. as ambassador stevens parted way was a turkish diplomat meeting with him at 9:40, terrorist teams invaded the compound, prolonged battle ensued at 4:00 a.m. the compound hit by mortar fire. hearing on capitol hill starts in about 25 minutes. >> nbc news's white house correspondent mike viqueira. appreciate it. with polls in battleground states tightening less than a month before election day, 27 days out now, obama supporters are in a bit of panic mode. if we take a look at the headlines here, huffington post writes forget losing the debate. is obama losing the liberal movement -- moment? excuse me. democrats turn to freak out. after ringing the alarm yesterday tells obama supporters

to stop panicking. with his back against the wall the president yesterday urged students, one of the nation's largest universities, ohio state to take advantage of early voting, even using star power, to get buckeyes on the ball. >> join will i am right after this event because he's heading to an early vote location where you can register and vote in the same place right now. there are buses around the corner that can get you there and back. so don't wait. do not delay. go vote today. >> let's bring in ron fornier, editor-in-chief of "the national journal." on "morning joe" today the obama campaign senior adviser robert gibbs had this message for delusion to democrats out there. i want to remind everybody. take a listen. >> i guarantee you that you will see an energetic and enthusiastic president on that -- in that next debate. instead of being nervous and hand wringing and calling your friends and worrying unnecessarily, get out and

register somebody to vote. go to a phone bank and make sure you are telling your friends what is at stake in this race. >> are disillusioned democrats all worked up for nothing, as the president adviser just stated? >> you know, they are in the same position that romney's adviser were just a week ago. when they were turning on their candida candidate. when the narrative in washington was and entire political world was obama has this thing in the bag. romney is a terrible candidate. now all of a sudden obama is a terrible candidate. romney has this in the bag. romney's adviser a month you a go were terrible and now are geniuses. we just all got to just take a breath. realize we have four weeks left in the campaign. go back and forth between margin of air sxror between now and election day and only question is on election day, do we finish like we did in 2004? 2008? with one of the candidates just a couple of points ahead? do we finish like we did in 2000 a tie and we are spending four weeks in the state --

>> you point out those points right there. but one thing that you wrote in an article you outlined the five reasons why it is too early to write off the president at this point. again, with 27 days to go. what is the most significant? what stands out? >> about ten days ago i wrote a column that said five reasons why not to write off mitt romney. take a breath, washington. specifically now for obama there is a lot of reasons why up shouldn't write him off. one, press, folks like you and me, we love a narrative, campaign. so we are going to find a way to make this a race. just like what happened last week with the debate. second of all, fundamentals still favor obama in some ways. he still has the tide going his way. growing number of voters that are minorities, young, and that coalition is no matter what happen it is next couple of weeks is still there for him. >> we do cover the horse race as journalists. i think for the american people

still questioning and wondering who to vote for, it is the policy issues that matter most and we will continue to hear from joe biden, paul ryan tomorrow night and then the last two presidential debates coming up. ron, thanks for your time this morning. not a black and white issue with stars like stacy dash catching heat over supporting mitt romney. what's the real store write when it comes to race and current election? angry bird? "sesame street" tells the obama campaign to cool it with the big bird ad. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what?

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the clueless star, stacey dash was saddened by the backlash after she publicly endorsed mitt romney. she got a call from romney's running mate, paul ryan, thanking her for her public support and dash joins a list of african-american who are supporting the republican ticket and as my next guest can discuss in detail, wendy wilson, news editor for "ens" magazine and wrote a feature story about six african-american women who say they are going to vote for mitt romney. it is great to have you here. stacey dash, who a lot of gen-x'ers will know from her role in "louless." she said in an interview she voted for president obama in '08. he likes what romney has in value giving him a shot this time around. is that when you are hearing from african-american women that might have a different view of who they want on vote for this time? >> you know, not necessarily. the women that i interviewed

were at the republican national convention. i have to say it was than easy finding them. i interviewed six women that are supporters of mitt romney and are supporting him mainly because of lower taxes and lower big government and they want smaller government and they want -- a government that is really going to help -- not help them necessarily but really be there to guide them along. so they will have -- hand out as they were telling me. these women are anomalies. 80% of african-american women voted for president obama in 2008. i don't think that's going to change very much. 1%, less than 1%, of african-americans, favor romney. so these women are anomalies but with everybody they have the right to have their own opinion. and who they are going to vote for. >> so people have an informed opinion as well. >> absolutely good get people involved in the process. we are seeing a big push in ohio for mitt romney as well as president obama. we know that no republican has ever taken the white house without taking ohio.

"the new york times" article that they have out also talks about african-american voting battleground states like north carolina. which president obama won by just 14,000 votes in '08. certainly could be a key in this re-election. article also notes the presidential election got 100% of african-american women's vote in north carolina. do you think -- it is voter enthusiasm that's the problem? this time around. >> i mean, i think that these women are not as excited this turnaround but, treatmently loyal. and don't forget about michelle obama. the power that she has with african-american women. while we -- really do appreciate what the president has done, i think a lot of black women are looking to say basically well, we appreciate what has been done, we want to see more. we want to know what he is going to do for us specifically. and so we look at the first lady and we know that's his number one adviser. take away the valerie jerrods, david axelrods, michelle obama

is there giving him what he needs and that's what we appreciate more than anything and that's the reason black women will continue to support him. >> we shall see how it all pans out. thanks so much. between want to take you back to governor chris christie at the romney event in ohio. >> he's my friend and i will guarantee this, everybody. you are about to hear from the next president of the united states of america. mitt romney. >> thank you. thank you. congressman. chris. thank you. wow. thank you so much. thank you. very generous. thank you. thank you. thank you so much. jim. thank you. thank you, chris, for those words and that generous introduction. good to have governor chris

christie here. sorry to make him away from new jersey for the day but he's on the bus with me and your great senator, rob portman. thank you, senator portman, for being here with us and getting us started today. thank you, con man gibbs, for getting us started as well. you will get re-elected. we need to have you in washington. like forward to that, congressman. special thanks also to karen and jim. jim, who got this going. he figured out how to design a pump that the world now considers the world's standard. thank you, jim, for your great work. stand up so people know who you are. stand up. everyone else standing up. thank you. for those that are -- i'm hardly an expert on -- for those that

don't know what jim did, he designed -- didn't just manufacture these pumps from someone else's drawings. he designed the technology. made the technology work that creates the pumps still being used today and that are and tha standard and built this enterprise and jim, you and your family and these people sitting around us, you did build it, this was not built by government. thank you, jim. now karen is around here somewhere. there she is. karen is running the operation now, learned from her mom and dad, and is running this business masterfully well. congratulations. i appreciate your comments and words. and chris christie stealing your line like that, that's simply not fair. i'm glad he brought it out. that was helpful. let me tell you how appreciative i am of something we share. karen and my wife are both breast cancer survivors and --

[ applause ] champions. champions. thank you, karen. and karen was -- karen was kind to remind me that this is breast cancer awareness month and gave me this pin which i am wearing this morning in her honor and honor of my wife and honor of all the women across america who have battled this terrible disease and know of our commitment to defeat it and provide long lives to our fellow citizens. this is an important time for america and i appreciate your willingness to stop production for a few hours, hopefully not it too long here, and let me

have a chance to speak to you. i'm going to turn for you for questions in a few moments and let you ask any questions you would like and i'll answer some and if they're real tough i'll have chris answer them. and so you can think up those questions. a few words before we get going. we had a debate last week about actually about a week ago and that was a good experience. i enjoyed that. we spoke about important things and i think the president and i were each able to describe a vision of where we take the country and our views were quite different. the president would install obama care and it's been shown that the cost of obama care per family is about $2,500 more. i would instead repeal obama care and replace obama care with real reforms to bring down the cost of health care and save people money.

the president indicated that you're going to see higher taxes under his administration. you already have under obama care. but that will continue. actually the vice president brought out the truth by saying he's going to add about a trillion dollars in taxes and taxes by the way, do not create jobs. raising taxes on people make it harder for enterprises to grow and hire people. i will not raise taxes on small business. i'll not raise taxes on business. i'll not raise taxes on middle-income people, i won't raise taxes at all on the american people. it's a very different approach. when the president was running as a candidate four years ago he looked at the deficits under president bush and found them to be excessive and un-american. and they're about half as large as the ones he's put in place over the last four years. he said he was going to cut the

deficit in half. he's doubled it. there's no question if he were to be re-elected we would see trillion dollar deficits again and again and again. our national debt now is almost the same as our total gdp. this slows down the economy. it makes it harder for businesses to grow and hire more people and to raise wages. and so unlike the president, when i finally get this job, i will cap federal spending, i will cut federal spending and get us on track to a balanced budget. there are other differences as well. the president is planning on, through obama care, cutting medicare for our current retiree s by $716 billion. i think that's wrong. i think we must honor the promise made to our seniors. i will restore that funding and make sure we protect medicare and social security and one more

thing i'll mention, the president's budget calls for shrinking our military by hundreds of billions of dollars and then the sequestration idea the white house came up with cuts it another few hundred billion. the secretary of defense has called those kinds of cuts devastating to our national security. i will not cut our military. i'll restore that funding and keep our military second to none in the world. >> mitt romney on the stump there in ohio opening up there with governor chris christie from new jersey talking about repealing obama care and talking about the deficits that the country has achieved under president obama. we shall see how he goes for the rest of the day there, ohio so important to the romney campaign. no republican -- no republican has ever taken the white house without taking ohio. that's going to wrap things up for me. thanks for your time. "now" with alex wagner is coming up next.

alex, because of doing that i can't do what i was going to do. >> oh. >> i can't. >> what a tease. we know it involves make the oreos. >> it does. >> the orioles. give america what they want. do it thomas. >> i'm going to get in trouble. >> we'll cut our show down for this. >> okay. >> oh, my god! >> tonight. >> now what if i -- i won't say like my nats -- >> can we get security to take me out of here now? >> as a beltway child it's hard for me to say anything about the orioles but the nats, my friend, it's about the nats. >> we shall see how it goes tonight. i like your nat attitude as long as you like my orioles until we must part. >> and we'll part in a bloody contest. >> bloody mess. thanks. >> thank you, thomas. we have another installment of the paradox of the mittens. governor romney continues to shift the middle by taking on the question of abortion. is it just another brick in mitt's wall of obfuscation.

we're getting down ballot. we'll look at some of the senate hot seats and what effect, if any, the recent romney bump might have on the power in congress. could a blockbuster case in front of the highest court end affirmative action. live where the reverend al sharpton is holding a rally today. all when "now" starts in 180 seconds. of a $5 trillion tax cut. that's not my plan." mitchell: "the nonpartisan tax policy center concluded that mitt romney's tax plan would cost $4.8 trillion over 10 years." vo: why won't romney level with us about his tax plan, which gives the wealthy huge new tax breaks? because according to experts, he'd have to raise taxes on the middle class - or increase the deficit to pay for it. if we can't trust him here... how could we ever trust him here? [ male announcer ] you start your day... love you, too. ...thinking about what's important to you -- your family... ...the mortgage... the kids' college tuition.

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